We met with representatives of the We Digital communication agency and learned about the features of promoting business in the Uzbek market.
Denis Roman, CEO & Co-Founder of We Digital agency
Sherzod Akhmedov, Influence director of We Digital agency
About We Digital
Denis. Previously, we were part of a large holding in Uzbekistan, serving about 20 European franchise brands. But two and a half years ago, we created our own communications agency, which specializes in social media marketing and influencer marketing.
The team consists of 35 people, and there are about 35 clients in the portfolio. Local Uzbek and international brands cooperate with us: Samsung, Pepsi, Nestle, Uztelecom, Texnomart.
About TBC Ornaments
Denis. This year we became the most nominated agency in the competition program of the Red Jolbors festival. Colleagues remember our TBC Ornaments case.
This project was created jointly with TBC Bank. It is a large digital bank in Georgia, which also operates in the Uzbek market. The company invests in the development of its brand and supports various communities. When they came to Uzbekistan, they offered to create a useful project in the field of culture.
We organized several expeditions, drove around the cities of Uzbekistan, visited museums and workshops. More than 100 national ornaments have been digitized and published in the public domain with descriptions.
Designers often use the heritage of other countries, passing it off as Uzbek culture. But thanks to our project, any brand that wants to create local branding in Uzbekistan will be able to use our database. We want the visual environment to improve, and brands and companies to promote our cultural code, using it in their identity.
People actively use TBC Ornaments. Uztelecom has already issued two million SIM cards with ornaments from our database. Local coffee shops and restaurants use elements in their design, while bloggers use them in video intros. The project even got into school textbooks in the section: "Culture".
There are plans to collect more than a thousand ornaments on the site. Perhaps we will scale to Kazakhstan and Kyrgyzstan.
About the Uzbek market
Denis. More people live in Uzbekistan than in Kazakhstan and Kyrgyzstan. Therefore, our market has great potential for development. Recently, a large number of cool specialists from Russia, Ukraine and Belarus have come to us. They see that many niches require attention and help the business grow.
The advertising market in Uzbekistan is growing every year. The digital market is also growing. More and more companies are shifting their budgets from traditional media to digital. The influencer marketing market is actively developing.
Sherzod. We are faced with the fact that there are many sites in Uzbekistan where they publish news. The lifestyle direction, media about business, cooking, and events are also beginning to develop. But there are almost no highly specialized media that write, for example, about IT and technology.
Denis. People in Uzbekistan love to consume content on social networks. They actively use Telegram — about 18 million users. Therefore, many media are developing in Telegram. Such channels broadcast on various topics and have a large audience. Here, unique content, seedings in other groups, joint contests are important for promotion.
YouTube is also popular. About five-seven million Uzbeks use this social network. Next in popularity: Instagram, Facebook, Odnoklassniki, VKontakte, LinkedIn, Twitter
But it all depends on your audience. Many brands are more suited to television, which also provides good coverage.
It is important to remember that the Uzbek language is mostly spoken in Uzbekistan. The largest Telegram channels write posts in Uzbek. But there is also an audience that communicates in Russian. It is best to use content in two languages.
I would like more high-quality content to be created in Uzbek. There isn't much of it yet. For example, there are YouTube channels where authors share educational videos and talk about scientific concepts in popular language. Their audience is growing rapidly because good content in Uzbek has a high value. It would be cool if the brands that enter Uzbekistan create useful content in the Uzbek language.
How to enter the market of Uzbekistan
Denis. To enter a new market, you need to define your goals, understand what you want. And only then to formulate further steps.
It is also important to follow local news, try to understand the context of people's attitudes to different events, communicate with those who have already moved to find out more information, go on exploration and communicate with business representatives. We often invite visitors to our place, get acquainted, talk about the features of our market.
Then it is worth studying the market itself, communicating with a potential audience, studying competitors and developing a strategy.
An entrepreneur must understand that each region has its own cultural code and traditions. All this must be taken into account.
The most important thing is to know what value your product can give to Uzbeks, what problem it will help to solve. Quality service and unique offers will always find a response.
